The Ultimate Frisbee team is flying into its spring season.
This year’s team has 30 new players, and hopes to make it to the New England Prep School Ultimate League championships this year.
Coached by Mr. Rivenburgh, Ms. Greener, and Mr. Schaffer, the frisbee squad won 12 out of their 20 games last year. The team had its ups and downs; they won some impressive games as well as losing some they shouldn’t have. This year’s captains are seniors Will Lane and Gavin Prough. Although not an official captain, sophomore Abby Seltzer is regarded as a leader of the team as well.
Only a week into the new season, Coach Rivenburgh is excited for what’s to come.
“The team looks really good this year,” he said. “We brought back a lot of quality talent and the new players are bringing one of the highest degrees of athleticism and overall talent I have seen in my time.”
The returners include the current captains, along with high-level players such as sophomore Jason Rhett, junior Solomon Neuhaus, and seniors George Goodhead and Jaden Tanguay. Since the birth of the program six years ago, the team numbers have always been on the lower end, but that is not the case this year.
“This year, our team is by far the largest I have seen in my three years at Williston,” said senior captain Will Lane. “As our program continues to grow and gain popularity, we bring an increasing number of true athletes each year, from a variety of different fall and winter sports. If I had to judge this squad as a whole, I would say this team has the most raw potential in the history of the program, which was created only five or six years ago.”
The ultimate program has existed at Williston for six years, yet some people still have trouble viewing ultimate as a competitive sport. That is changing.
“The ultimate team at Williston is working to shake the image that it is a slacker sport,” said coach Rivenburgh. “People should know coming in that this is a sport where we work hard and have a level of dedication that demands a great deal of effort and focus from our players. This year’s goals are to develop a young group that will grow into the future of the team, challenge some of the better teams in the region, and develop into a real challenger at the NEPSUL tournament this year.”
Post-Graduate Brandon McGill was among the many people who viewed ultimate as less intense than other more “traditional” sports. After a week of practice, he thinks otherwise.
“Playing it I realized that it is very physically demanding because of all the running and the skill required to be able to throw the frisbee,” Brandon said. “Every day the ultimate team is faced with tough conditioning and high-speed drills in which maximum effort is required.”